
I did enjoy the film Yesterday, not least because the songs of the Beatles have threaded through my life.
But I was struck by one thing – the fact that the lead actor was BAME even though the part did not call for it. That is still quite rare in film these days. Danny Boyle has said that he chose Himesh Patel because he could both act and sing, and his voice had soul. “I wouldn’t have cast him if I had found someone better”.
I go to the theatre a lot and these days it is so refreshing to see colour blind casting, as well as casting that ignores gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. Of course, the key difference between film and stage is the latter’s appeal to the audience’s imagination.
In a theatre the actors invite the audience to conspire together to imagine that a minimal set is a desert, a country house, a ship at sea or a street in New York. The prologue to Henry V captures the essence of theatre: “And let us … on your imaginary forces work”. Similarly we all suspend our disbelief and go along with the idea that an actor is really a king, a social worker, a prostitute or a politician.
On the other hand, most movies aim for verisimilitude, so scenes are filmed in realistic settings and the actor is transformed with make-up, prosthetics or CGI to match the character’s appearance. It is noteworthy that, because Yesterday was a film and not a stage play, Boyle cast, as the parents, the wonderful Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal – two actors who look as though they could have produced Himesh Patel. In contrast, on the stage any ethnicity might have been encountered.
However, there is a dark history of institutional prejudice within the theatre.